Cloud was relieved when Rowik's torment was over and he exited the room. He took the heavy tension along with him. Both of his roommates immediately turned their attention to their new friend.

"He really ripped into you." Stavro noted. Cloud stared down at the floor in mild shame. Victor shot a wasted glare at Stavro, who was still fixated on the shaken boy, then dropped down from his bunk with a thud and approached Cloud and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" Victor was genuinely worried. Cloud felt the knot in his stomach loosen with Victor's touch and friendly demeanor. He was still upset about what took place but pulled it together in favor of shaking off the concern. He didn't want his roommates to think he needed to be babysat. "Yeah, it's cool."

"Good!" Victor smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "How 'bout we get something to eat? I'm starved!"

"I'm up for that!" Stavro stood up and followed Victor to the door, but turned back noticing Cloud wasn't following him. "Aren't you hungry?" Cloud looked up. "Uh.. yeah. You guys go ahead. I'll meet up with you later." The boys nodded and headed down the hall. Cloud didn't intend on following. He wasn't in much of a mood to be social and definitely didn't want to risk running into Rowik again, although that's difficult to do in the long run when it comes to your roommate. Cloud frowned at being reminded of this.

Cloud climbed into his bed. Not the most comfortable.. He sighed and stared up into the top bunk. One asshole for a roommate is better than three. I don't really know what to make of Stavro. Victor seems cool. Maybe if I stick with him, Rowik will lay off me. He shook his head. Nah.. I can't do that. I'll never get into SOLDIER by hiding behind some guy. With that, some unwanted memories began to flash in Cloud's mind. No.. I don't want to think about that now. Cloud shifted his attention to the light on the ceiling and returned to his original train of thought. No one would respect me if I did that. Besides, I don't want Victor to get hurt because of me. I need to be strong on my own. That's why I came here!

Cloud glanced at the clock and noticed he had a couple hours before curfew. They were told they could walk around HQ and check things out on their first night, so he decided to take advantage of that if not to just get out and have some more time to be pensive.

The halls were littered with several guys standing around and talking or walking to their destination. He passed by the mess hall and attempted to see if he could find his roommates in passing and only finding a guy that was most likely Rowik. He smirked knowing he dodged a chance at humiliation, but it faded quickly since he knew he couldn't avoid his roommate forever.

The automatic door slid open as Cloud approached it. The air was much cooler now than when he arrived. Indistinguished speech and automobiles served as the soundtrack for the populous city. He saw a few kids he recognized from the living quarters walking around town. He headed for a bench he spotted in a secluded area, illuminated by a street lamp perched high above it.

He sat down and leaned back, making the old bench creak. He found no stars in the sky, only ominous clouds shrouding the atmosphere.

I think too much for my own good. I wish I could just go with the flow and not be so anxious about everything. All the other guys are either having dinner or out doing something in town with their new friends while I'm sitting here by myself. Great way to make a change, Cloud.. He groaned, annoyed at himself and closed his eyes.

"Hey! Are you one of the new recruits?" Cloud nearly leaped off the bench and into the street, but managed to stifle it down to a small jump and turned around and saw a tall man with dark hair, mostly obscured by the shadows. The man laughed.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to scare ya." He stepped into the light. Cloud was caught off guard by this man's strikingly handsome appearance. He had thick, spiky black hair that seemed to have a bluish hue to it when in the light. His eyes were a refreshing shade of aqua, clear as water. His lips were curled into a genuine smile. He had an immaculate complexion; a face that would no doubt accurately express whatever this man was feeling. Although it's hard to imagine a frown on this guy's face. The shape of his well-built body was clearly visible underneath his uniform. "My name is Zack Fair, what's yours?"

"I'm Cloud Strife. And yeah, I'm here to join SOLDIER." Cloud smiled. "Nice to meet you, Cloud! This seat taken?" Zack asked, pointing to the bench. "No, go ahead." Cloud answered, shyly. Zack promptly sat next to him. Cloud felt like he was grinning like an idiot at the closing proximity between the two of them. "So how come you're all alone out here?"

Cloud pursed his lips. "I dunno. It's all kind of a lot to take in at once. Especially for me. I'm not so much in the mood to socialize and eat right now." He looked down, hoping his answer wasn't completely lame. "I hear ya. It's sensory overload your first day, but the good news is you'll get used to it pretty soon and you'll make a lot of friends here along the way. Promise!" Zack reassured him, still flashing that smile. His optimism was contagious. Just looking at Zack was enough to make it easier for Cloud to breathe and relax.

"Besides all the rush, is everything going alright for you?" Zack asked, almost as if he knew exactly what Cloud was thinking about. Cloud, of course, didn't want to bring Zack down with his own drama, especially during their very first conversation. "Yeah. Everything's great! Can't wait to get started with training." Zack laughed. "You're an ambitious one! I won't lie, though. It's a lot of hard work. I had an idea of how hard it would be before coming in here and then realized it was 20 times harder than that." Cloud felt a bit more discouraged at that fact than he would've liked. "Heh. I figured.."

He was undoubtedly feeling a fast connection forming with Zack. You didn't need to be highly perceptive to tell that he was the friendly, outgoing type. The kind of guy who would risk his own life in favor of his friend's. He wanted so badly to start spilling his guts to Zack at that very moment, after only a half hour of meeting each other. He knew how ridiculous that was. Perhaps it's because he's never really had anyone to lean on. The few people in his life that came close either didn't understand or eventually fucked him over. All the trauma he's been through over the past few years was building up and he was having a hard time carrying the burden on his own. He knew he couldn't do that. Not now. It's too soon. What if Zack turned out to be like his former friends? Cloud hoped that wasn't true.

"Hey, Cloud.. It's getting kinda late. We better go back inside before they get pissed at us." Zack sounded almost as disappointed as Cloud felt. "Yeah. I better not get on their bad side on my first night."

"I'll come by your room tomorrow and we can hang out some more. Is that alright?" Cloud turned to Zack, surprised he was the one being asked to hang out for once. "Sounds good!" Cloud's face practically lit up. Zack chuckled, satisfied that he could make his new friend smile. Maybe all Cloud needs is a friend.

Zack followed Cloud to his room. "I remember these rooms. It's been a while, though." Zack glanced around then turned to Cloud. "So I'll see ya tomorrow after training. I can introduce you to some of my friends if you want!" Cloud was hoping for more alone time with Zack, but he figured a guy like him is probably pretty popular. He went along with it. "That's cool with me."

"Alright, take care of yourself, Cloud!" Zack said before taking off down the hallway. Cloud smiled after him and then turned to his door. I guess it's back to reality for me. He opened the door slowly in case his roommates were already asleep, but it was dark and empty. Cloud grimaced at being back earlier than he apparently needed to be, but it was okay since he was absolutely exhausted. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

After a while he could feel his body temperature start to rise uncomfortably high. His sweat began to moisten his shirt and hair and soak through to the bed and pillow. He groaned and scrunched his eyebrows as he turned in his bunk to find a comfortable spot. A cool breeze gently blew over Cloud, drying his sweat and giving him relief. He slid to a different position in his bed when he realized he wasn't in bed anymore. He pried open his heavy eyelids to almost complete darkness at first. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw the night sky filled with bright blue stars.

He noticed he was resting his head against someone's arm and leg. He whipped his head around and to his shock, realized he had fallen asleep in Zack's lap. "Hey, you're awake." Zack said calmly, "You've been out for a while." Cloud was both amazed and bewildered.

AN: A bit of a cliffhanger. Haha. As always, let me know what you think through reviews and stuff. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far and I look forward to hearing from you! More to come.